Airship or dirigible balloon.



T. R. MACMECHEN & E. M. FOX.

AIRSHIP 0R DIRIGIBLE BALLOON.

APPLICATION FILED Dsc. I. I9I5.

Patented Mar. 13,v 1917.

UNITED sTATEs .PATENT oEEioE..

THOMAS RUTIIERFORD MACMECHEN AND EDWIN MARSHALL FOX, F WESTMINSTER,

v LONDON, ENGLAND.'

AIEsHIP on DIEIGIBLE BALLooN.

To all whom i may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS RUTHEREORD MAcMEoHEN, a citizen of the 'United States of America, and EDWIN MARSHALL Fox, a

fvsubject of the King of Great Britain, re-

siding at 66 Victoria street, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to 'Airships or Dirigible Balloons, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to airships or dirigible balloons, the chief object being to enable their buoyancy to be readily controlled within wide limits without having to resort to the use of ballast as heretofore. previously been proposed to render the buoyancy of airships and dirigible balloons of a uniform character, by passing a. current of air of the same temperature as the external atmosphere between the gas bags or compartments and the envelop of the body portion thereof but such arrangement does not provide for the buoyancy to be varied for l"Purposes of ascent and descent. A

According to this invention the desired` control of the buoyancy is obtained by varying the temperature of the air or gaseous medium and causing the same lto swirl around the gas bags or compartments of the body portion of the airship. With this object in view the air or gaseous medium may be caused to pass through spiral passages of the character disclosed in the specification of prior Patent No. 1,108,113, which are formed in the space between vthe gas bags o r compartments' and lthe envelop of the body portion of the airship. The desired variation of temperature is effected by utilizing the heat in the products of combustion from the internall combustion engine or motor or other source of power proadapted to force more or less vided for propelling the airship. In' order to attain .the latter object themeans provided for forcing the current of air around the gasbags or compartments of the airship are of the products of combustion from the internal comv bustion engine around the gas bags when the temperature of the gas therein is to be varied.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe the same 'I Specication of Letters Patent.

It has Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

Application filed December 1, 1915i Serial No. 64,530.

more fully with reference to the accompanyng drawings in which v Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus for carrying the invention into effect.

Flg. 2 is an end elevation of the said apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a plan thereof, and Fig. 4 is a sectional detail view thereof.

The means employed for controlling the Y 64 pertaining to the motor c. Each of the,

branches 62 and 63 is adaptedvto be lcontrolled .by a common valve or damper 65 for rendering the same wholly or partially operative or inoperative as may be desired.

-The damper 65 is mounted on a spindle 66 which is provided with an operating lever 67 and suitably mounted in a bracket or the like 68 attached to the chamber or exhaust box 64. l Another spindle l69 is arranged adJacent to the spindle 6e and is suitably connected or linked thereto so as'to be actuated with the spindle 66 when the latter is angularly displaced by means of the lever- 67. t, The spindle 69 carries a damper 61 which is adapted to open or close the branch 6 and which is operated simultaneously with the damper'b.

611 is the exhaust pipe from the engine c and itleads to thel aforesaid chamber or exhaust box 64. The two dampers 65, and 61o carried by the angularly displaceable spindles 66 and 69 are so disposed that when the damper 65 is closing the branch 63 thedamper 61-will be closingthe branch 6. Consequently the branches 63 and 6 will always be in the same condition either closed or opened.

The other inlet branchv 62 of the fan will be open when the branches 63 and 60 are closed and will be closed by the damper 65 .when the said branches are open; The respective positions of the dampers 65 and 61 are shown in full and broken lines in Fig.

3; `When the dampers are in the position shown in full lines the products of combus tion from the exhaust box. b* will pass to the fan, whereas when the dampers are in the other position the products will pass to the atmosphere through the branch b" and cool air will be admitted to the fan through the branch 713. It will be seen therefore that the fan casing Z) may be readily placed in connection with the exhaust box b* or the external atmosphere according as it is desired to pass a hot or cool current of gaseous medium around the gas bags or compartments of the airship. The chamber or exhaust box b* which is connected to the motor by the pipe b may be provided with suitable asbestos or other screens d or a balile (Z3 to prevent the passage of hot particles of soot or sparks and thereby avoid danger of injury to the gas bags or compartments 'of the air ship. The exhaustbox may also be provided with a liningpcl? of asbestos or other suitable material.

The fan or blower a is driven by the motor o of the airship through belting or other suitable'transmitting gear c and when the aforesaid dampers are appropriately set, Vis adapted to force the products of combustion from the said motor or a current of air from the surrounding atmosphere around 'the gas bags or compartments of the ail-ship to control the buoyancy thereof.

lVhat We .claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. In an airship or dirigible balloon, the

combination with apparatus for forcing cool.

and heated media around the gas bags or compartments of the airship, for buoyancy control, of means for regulating the relative proportions of said media and for excluding one while admitting the other.

2. In an airship 0r dirigible balloon, the combination with a propelling engine, of apparatus for forcing cool and heated media around the gas bags or compartments of the air'ship, for buoyancy control, and means for regulating thev relative proportions ofA let branches thereon communicating with the engine exhaust and the atmosphere and dampers for controlllng'said inlet branches to vary the temperature of the air or gaseous media forced by the said fan around the gas bags or compartments of the air-Y ship.

5. In an airship or dirigible balloon, the

combination with a propelling engine of an exhaust box, a blower, an inlet pipe on said blower having a number of branches Vwhich communicate respectively with the said exhaust box and the atmosphere rand ay system of inter-connected dampers for controlling said inlet branches and thereby varying the temperature of the air or gaseous media forced by the blower around the gas bags 0r compartments of the airship.

6. In an an'ship or dirigible balloon, the

exhaust box, screens or bailles in saidV box, a rotary fan, a casing for said rotary fan, an inlet pipe on said casing having a number of branches which communicate respectively With the said exhaust box and the atmosphere and a system of inter-connected dampers for controlling said inlet branches and therebyvarying the temperature of the .air or gaseous media forced by the fan around the gas bags or compartments 0f the airship.

l THOS, RUTHERFORD MACMECHEN.

EDWIN MARSHALL EOX.

combination with a propelling engine of au 

